Herbert Marant scheduled for Jan. 23 hearing

By Pierrette J. ShieldsLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
01/12/2013 07:59:28 PM MST

Updated:
01/25/2013 11:11:03 AM MST

Darlene Allen, right, holds a picture of her deceased daughter, Mary Ann Bryan, while posing for a portrait with her family, left to right, Rick Deeter, Jenifer Deeter and Dan Bryan on Thursday. Herbert Marant, who was convicted of Bryan's 1981 killing, is scheduled for Jan. 23 hearing.
(
Greg Lindstrom
)

LONGMONT -- When Jenifer Deeter smiles, it's easy to see she is her mother's daughter.

The squint of her eyes mirrored her mother's in a black and white photograph of her mom the year she was killed: 1981.

Deeter was only 9 when her father hired a hit man to kill her 27-year-old mother, Mary Ann Bryan. Later this month, she and the rest of her family plan to travel to Denver to appear before the Colorado state parole board, for the fifth time, and ask them to keep her 60-year-old father in prison for a bit longer.

"It is not fair," Deeter said last week of the family's task to keep Herbert Marant in prison. "He was convicted of a crime and given a life sentence."

enifer Deeter wipes away tears while discussing the death of her mother, Mary Ann Bryan, with family including her grandmother, Darlene Allen, left, on Thursday.
(
Greg Lindstrom
)

When Marant was sentenced in 1982, a life sentence under state law meant a possibility of parole after 20 years.

Darlene Allen, Mary Ann Bryan's mother, said the family is scared of Marant.

"We don't know what he would do if he got out," she said.

According to police and court records, Robert "Tattoo Bob" Landry beat an elderly pharmacist with a gun and kidnapped Bryan from the Mountain View Pharmacy in January 1981. Bryan's body was found three days later in a mountain outhouse near Lyons. Her skull had been crushed by a rock.

Landry died in prison in 1989.

The family still lives in Longmont, and they recall that the city was shaken when news of the murder hit. Allen said people will say that is when they started locking their doors.

"Nobody felt safe because a killer was on the loose," Allen said. "It has been described as the most horrific, the most heinous. I use the word 'monster.'"

The passage of time has not helped and each parole hearing makes the family relive the crime, they said.

"My mom has missed out on so much," Deeter said. "If anything we have to do this for her, too."

That doesn't mean it is easy. In the past, Marant has been in the room. This time, because he was moved from Cañon City to Sterling, he is set to appear via a video link.

"I am always cold," Deeter said of the visits to the hearings. "I think it is fear and anger all rolled into one."

Each time the family has had to visit the parole board, they have taken a collection of letters with them.

Dan Bryan, Deeter's stepfather who was married to Mary Ann Bryan when she was killed, said the letters really seem to affect the board's decision.

The letter campaign started with several dozen letters in 2001, when Marant first became eligible for parole. In 2004, the family collected 37 letters. In 2007, they sent 116 letters to the parole board. Dan Bryan estimated that 113 were taken to the board in 2010.

Anyone who would like to contribute a letter for the family to present to the board may send it to Bryan, P.O. Box 1336, Longmont, CO 80502 or email it to fight4maryannbryan@yahoo.com before Jan. 23.

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